


Couldn't Make Her Say

by AlexanderTheMostlyOkay



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 12:59:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/735984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexanderTheMostlyOkay/pseuds/AlexanderTheMostlyOkay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a reason why Rabbit always malfunctions during Honeybee</p>
            </blockquote>





	Couldn't Make Her Say

**Author's Note:**

> Co-Written with the wonderful PorrimMaryam on tumblr because he's really good at splitting my heart in two and rubbing it into the dirt

It was a warm sunny day at the 1956 Plifferston, New Pennsyltucky World’s Fair. Laughter echoed in the background and sweet smells of caramel apples and funnel cakes filled the fair atmosphere. Carnival games and stages lined the paths, along with rides and different kinds of booths containing people trying to make a living from selling interesting trinkets and gadgets.

The band stood on the stage, joking around between songs.

“Don’t question Sir Jonathan.” Rabbit was working his way through the skit, adding a little bit for flare than he normally would, but no one was protesting so he continued on.

The Spine gave him a sideways glance and replied according to the script.

“When was he knighted?”

“When you weren’t lookin’! Gotta pay more attention to these kind of things, The Spine.”

The Spine raised one of his eyebrows in an almost signature way and let them act the rest out naturally.

Rabbit looked out into the audience, which, while of a modest size, was still enthusiastic.

After the rest of their songs, the four ‘bots went their own ways around the fair, as the current Peter Walter had told them they could. The Spine went to go look at the gadgets and trinkets with Upgrade bouncing along beside him, The Jon found a rather unusual booth that sold an assortment of interesting hats and Rabbit wandered around the fair, alone but content.

When Rabbit came back around to the stage, a new act had taken their place. A yellow automaton, striped with black and wings on her back, was standing singing a lovely upbeat tune. He couldn’t help but stand in with the crowd to watch the pretty winged robot singing the melody.

Although she wasn’t nearly as animated as the copper robot, she still managed to cause Rabbit to into almost a trance-like state. He stood there for the rest of her performance, completely unaware of the passage of time. Even when Peter came up behind him to warn him of their upcoming set, he was still swaying along to the music.

He almost had the drag the automaton away in order to get ready for their own show. But not before Rabbit caught the automaton’s eye, a deep shade of green which complemented the yellow metal, that Rabbit knew that he had to see her again.

They got ready for the next performance, setting up the instruments and getting all the bots gathered together. It took a while to pull The Jon away from the hat stand, he ended up buying a new top hat with a few feathers in it. Soon, the four were back on stage and ready to entertain as they were programmed to do. Rabbit still could not get the mysterious automaton’s harmonies out of his mind. Rabbit seemed to fly through the set, wanting to get off stage to find the girl as soon as possible. His siblings were probably annoyed at that fact, wanting to impress the audience and not seem rushed.

But as soon as the set was over, the eldest robot rushed out into the crowd, hoping to see that the yellow and black painted automaton was watching them. Scanning the sea of faces he couldn’t find her, and felt whatever equivalent of a heart he had in his chest sink like a stone.

The Spine saw his distress, although he didn’t know what caused it, and went to comfort his brother.

“I need a minute, The Spine.” Rabbit snapped, heading backstage leaving a very confused Spine standing in the middle of an audience of fans wanting autographs.

When backstage, he sat on a bench near some props and costumes and put his head in his hands and sighed..

“It’s no use..” He mumbled, rubbing at the metal on his face with his thumbs.

“What’s no use?” A female voice chirped. Rabbit looked up.

There in front of him was the yellow and black robot. She gave a concerned look for the sitting robot, confused as to why he looked so hopeless. Rabbit straightened his back and stood up quickly.

“Nothing! Hello, My name is Rabbit!” He babbled, sticking out a hand to shake. She giggled and took it. The last second before she would pull her hand away, Rabbit decided to bring it to his lips and press a quick kiss to the top of it, making the girl automaton squeak and bring her hand back, slowly.

“My name’s Honeybee, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Rabbit!”

It sounded almost rehearsed, but still natural in her voice, close to Upgrade’s own diction.

“I really enjoyed your performance.” Rabbit was sheepishly inching around his own infatuation with her, hoping to avoid a confession of love within minutes of meeting her. She flashed him a quick smile in return for his compliment and turned her face down, almost like she was hiding a blush.

The Spine, feeling extremely awkward and unwanted, quietly made an exit. Although, he still peaked his head around the doorway in an effort to see how the rest of the interaction played out.

It mostly consisted of Rabbit jumbling up his words and trying not to make a fool of himself, but Honeybee didn’t seem to mind. They were happy talking to each other, even if it was pretty awkward. Pretty soon, they were laughing and talking like they’d been built together.

The biggest crowd the stage got that day was from Rabbit and Honeybee singing a sweet duet together, unplanned. The voices meshed so perfectly that almost everyone in the fair had stopped to listen to the two robots singing the upbeat love song. Rabbit and Honeybee were the perfect act, complementing each other’s movements with Rabbit’s wildness and Honeybee’s softness. The Walter bots stood at the side of the stage, happy to see their brother so joyful and filled to the brim with love.

 

Both of the performers went on their separate ways, always on each others minds but never being able to find the time or means to meet again.While the Walter Bots slowly gained popularity and the act grew, Rabbit slowly began to forget the girl he once met at a fair, only to be reminded when the band, now bearing the name Steam Powered Giraffe, received news that they would be playing in Pliferston, New Pennsyltucky once again. Rabbit grew overjoyed and couldn’t power down for weeks.

When they returned, Rabbit was hit with a wave of nostalgia, seeing the old stage memorialized and the array of carnival attractions torn down and left abandoned. Pushing down a figurative knot in his throat, he decided to wade through the arrangement of junk.

After looking at piece after piece of crumpled metal, he finally found what he was looking for.

Chipped paint and rust covered her once lovely frame, Honeybee sat backstage, powered down in a corner.

“Honeybee?” Rabbit called out to her, rushing toward her side. He picked her head up and threw one of his arms around her waist, cradling the old bot in his arms. He moved his hand around her neck until he had found a switch and flipped it. Nothing happened but a subtle light appearing in her eyes. She couldn’t move.

“Honeybee.. Can you hear me…?” Rabbit asked, hoping just for a sign that she was still somewhat there, that his Honeybee had a spark of life left. Her eyes flickered, on the bridge of being alive and not. Rabbit felt some of his gears stop and spark as oil began to drip from his eyes.

“Please… say something..” He whispered, choking back sobs and words and phrases running through his mind, wanting to be said but Rabbit was unable to form the sentences he wanted to give to her. “Anything.”

With no sign of motion or speech leaving in the yellow and black bot, Rabbit let out a cry of anguish.

Choppy sobs filled his body, oil running down his face and dripping onto her. “Oh, Honeybee…”

When the last of the light in her eyes had faded, the copper automaton shrieked and shook Honeybee hoping, praying, for her to just wake up.

“Honeybee, H-Honeybee! Please come back! Say So-Something! I-I-I-I-I L-L-Love you! I L-L-Love you my.. My… My… My.. My… My… My..” He shouted, carrying out the words until he knew that she just wouldn’t come back. Rabbit would never hear his Honeybee or sing with her again.

When the other robots found him, Rabbit was powered down sitting next to the female robot, positioned like it was only yesterday that they were just silly robots singing songs and being in love. Rabbit had positioned Honeybee’s head to lay on his shoulder. With an arm around her, waist pulled tightly to him, oil dripped from his eyes while in his quiet stasis.

Rabbit had become less and less sociable, rarely going outside to walk around. He preferred the quiet, dark manor. For the first time in weeks, Rabbit approached the Spine to tell him about a new song. The Spine quickly agreed after hearing the bot spew out some lyrics, using anything as an excuse to get the copper automaton happy and bubbly again. Every time they sung the song in concert, Rabbit would break down. The automatons never knew why and Rabbit would never speak of it to them. All they knew was that the love of his life was gone and he was forever scarred.

 

“There was a time I was in love  
and all the angels and the doves  
couldn’t make her say ‘I love you…’”


End file.
